Cotton picking system



R. s. CURLEY ET AL ,698

COTTON PICKING SYSTEM- 'F'iled Nov. 5, 1931 5 SheetsSheet 1 1936- R. s.CURLEY AL I 2,028,698

' COTTON PICKING SYSTEM v Filed Nov. 5, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 uuuu Uvuuu uuuuuu INVENTURJ.

i atented Jan. 21, i936 arren STATES PATENT Needham, Mass,

assignors to Saco-Lowell Shops, Boston, Mass, a corporation ofMassachusetts Appiication November 5, 1931, Serial No. 573,084

8 Claims.

In recent years the so-called single process picking has verysubstantially replaced the old two and three process systems which hadformerly been used for many years. The single process system takes thecotton from a distributor, passes it through a series of pickingoperations and works it into the form of a finished lap ready to go tothe carding machine without any manual handling whatever.

The present invention relates to systems of this type. It aims toimprove such systems with a View to simplifying the apparatus required,While still producing work of the desired quality. The inventioninvolves both a novel organization of apparatus and also a new process.

The successful operation of a single process picker system involves thefeeding of the cotton to the final unit of the system with a high degreeof evenness or uniformity. Such feeding of the cotton is commonlyaccomplished in the present commercial systems by using a hopper feeder,interposed in the system, and serving both as a feeding unit and also asa reservoir to hold a relatively large quantity of cotton at anintermediate point. This body of cotton is depended upon to effect,through suitable mechanism, the desired control of the rate of feed ofthe cotton at preceding points in the system. It is one of the objectsof this invention to avoid the necessity for this intermediate hopperfeeder.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from thefollowing description, when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a single process picker system organizedin accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, on a larger scale, showing details of parts ofthe driving mechanism used in the system;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the first units inthe system shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of the later units of the system.

Preliminary to a detailed description of the construction shown, it maybe pointed out that this system is intended to be used at essentiallythe same point in cotton preparing operations as are the present singleprocess systems. Usually the cotton, after being opened, is conveyedpneumatically from the opening room to the picker room. In the latterroom it is distributed by any suitable apparatus, the so-called Mortondistributor being very commonly used for this purpose. The system shownin the accompanying drawings is designed to be used in connection with aMorton distributor and comp-rises a hopper feeder 2 equipped with theusual feeler fork or rake 3, which automatically controls the gate onthe con veyor of the Morton distributor in a well known manner, andcauses this apparatus to deliver cotton to the hopper 2 substantially inaccordance with its requirements.

The hopper feeder includes the usual inclined feed lattice and itdelivers cotton to an evener 4, which, in turn, feeds the cotton to thefirst picker unit of the system, this unit comprising a beater section 5and a condenser section ES. From the condenser the cotton passes into asecond picker unit including a beater section I and a condenser section8. The latter section delivers the cotton to another evener 9, whichfeeds it to the final unit of the system, this unit consisting of apicker lapper or finisher lapper which includes a beater section ill, acondenser l i and a lapper head 82. These various units are all of knownconstructions.

The details of construction of and certain of the connections. betweenthese various units are best illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. Referring toFig. 3 it will be seen that the hopper feeder 2 delivers its cotton inthe usual manner directly on to the upper reach of a horizontal latticeM which carries the cotton forward under the driven rolls l5 and E6 tothe feed rolls. I! immediately in front of the evener roll is. The usualpedal mechanism, parts of which are indicated at 20, cooperate with theroll is and with a lever mechanism of the type common in eveners, toadjust the evener belt 22 running over the driving and driven cones 23and 24, respectively, Fig. 1. The upper of these cones is connectedthrough Worm gearing with a chain 25 which drives the feed lattice ofthe hopper feeder, and also operates through another worm gearingmechanism 26 to drive the horizontal lattice l4, fee-d rolls I! and theevener roll I 8, all in a well known manner.

As shown in Fig. 3 the evener mechanism feeds the cotton to the firstbeater section, the beater 21 of this unit picking from the evenerpedals 20. Itwill be clear from the foregoing description that theentire feed of the cotton from the hopper feeder 2 to this first beatersection is under the control of the evener.

The screens of the condenser 6 receive the cotton from the beatersection 5 and deliver a web of cotton in which the fibres are veryloosely associated with each other to the rolls 28, Fig. 3,

commonly referred to as de1ivery rolls. This web moves across a shortplate 30 into the nip of another pair of rolls 3! which feed it to thebeater section I of the second picker unit.

In a similar manner the cotton is taken from this beater by thecondenser 8 and is delivered upon a horizontal lattice 35, Fig. 4, whichcarries it to the feed rolls 36 of the evener 9. Preferably a drivenroll 31 cooperates with the lattice 35 to pack the cotton against thefeed rolls 36. From this point the cotton passes under the evener roll38 and over the pedals 40, into the beater section l 9 of the finisherunit, the condenser ll taking the cotton from this beater and deliveringit to the calender rolls of the lapper head where the web is compressedand consolidated and finally is wound up into a lap 4|.

It will be observed that in this system the cotton is fed automaticallyin a continuous stream from one picker unit to the next, withoutinterruption at any point between the hopper feeder 2 and the winding ofthe lap in the lapper head 12. A lap customarily weighs 48 lbs. althougha variation of half a pound above or below this figure is ordinarilyconsidered permissible. In addition to this general standard ofuniformity it is also highly desirable to have as little yard for yardvariation as possible in the web.

When the cotton is delivered to the picker by a Morton distributor thereis necessarily considerable variation in the rate at which the cottonwill be fed from the hopper feeder 2, due largely to variations in thequantity of cotton in the hopper at different times. While the controlafforded by the feeler or rake 3 and the mechanisms which it governs isfairly sensitive, nevertheless variations will occur in the quantity ofcotton delivered to any supply hopper fed by a distributor. Suchvariations may be due to peculiarities of individual machines, or moreespecially to its position in the line of machines fed by thedistributor, since the feeder nearest the supply end of the Mortonconveyor will, other things being equal, have a more uniform supply ofcotton than will subsequent feeders in the line, chiefly due to the factthat it has the first call on the supply carried by the conveyor so thatit receives cotton whenever it wants it, whereas any other machine inthe line receives cotton only when no other preceding machine is callingfor cotton.

The variations in the rate of flow of cotton to the first picker unit inthe system are substantially reduced by the evener 4 and this factmaterially reduces the work required of the second or final evener 9,thus permitting a closer setting of the latter evener so that it willdeliver cotton to the beater ll! of the lapper with a very considerabledegree of uniformity or evenness.

In order further to reduce such variations, connections are provided toenable the second evener 9 to exercise a very close control over thefeeding mechanisms located between the intermediate units, and a generalcontrol over the operation of the first evener 4. Referring to Fig. 1 itwill be seen that the lower cone of the final evener 9 is secured faston a shaft 42 which is driven from the calender shaft through an angulardriving mechanism 43 like that shown in Patent No. 1,397,244. The evenerincludes a belt 44 running on the upper and lower cones and also theusual lever mechanism 45, operated by the evener pedals, for adjustingthe belt 44. The upper or driven cone of the evener mechanism drives thefeed rolls 36, the evener roll 38 and the lattice 35 through connectionssimilar to those provided between the evener 4 and the correspondingparts, this mechanism being well known in this art. Such a mechanism isshown, for example, in pending application, Serial No. 425,570, assignedto the assignee of this invention.

The lever mechanism 45 of the evener adjusts the belt shipper carried bythe slide 46, and this slide is connected by a link 41 to a similarslide 48 carrying another belt shipper for controlling the position of abelt 50 running on two cones 5| and 52 of a variable speed mechanism.The lower of these cones is driven at a substantially constant speed bymeans of a belt connection 53 running to the shaft of the beater I. Thespeed of the upper cone, however, is entirely under the control of theevener 9 and the shaft of this upper cone 52 carries a worm for drivingthe worm wheel 54 which is gear-connected with the screens of thecondenser 6, the delivery rolls 28 and feed rolls 3 i. This gear 54 alsois connected through bevel gearing and a horizontal shaft 55 with gears56 which drive the screen of the condenser 8.

It will also be seen from an inspection of Fig. 1, that the drivingshaft 23 of the evener 4 is driven from the upper cone 52 of thevariable speed mechanism through the belt connection 58 and thehorizontal shaft 60.

As above indicated, the first evener 4 will operate so far as it can toreduce the variations in. the thickness of the web which it delivers tothe first beater section 5. It can, however, effect only a relativelyrough evening operation. The second, or final evener 9 delivers a sheetwhich is far more uniform than that delivered by the first evener. Thisis due to the fact that it does not have the extreme variations tocontend with which the first evener must handle; and this, in turn, ispartly due to the action of the first evener, and partly also to thefact that the parts which feed the cotton from the condenser 6 to thebeater section I, and from the second condenser 8 to the evener 9 areall under the control of the latter evener. Consequently, when thisevener finds that the cotton is coming to it too fast, it operatesautomatically through the mechanism just described to slow down, notonly its own feed lattice 35 and feed rolls 36, but also all of thepreceding feeding units, including those controlled by the evener 4. Onthe other hand, if the sheet coming to the pedals of the evener is toothin, it will automatically speed up all of the preceding feeding units.In this way the second evener exercises a general control over theoperation of the first evener and, in addition, it also controls thespeed of the three intermediate feeding units.

In single process picker systems now in use, a second hopper feeder islocated immediately in front of the evener 9 and is utilized to exercisea control over the rate of feed of cotton through preceding parts of thesystem. We have found, however, that this additional hopper feeder canbe dispensed with, and the system correspondingly simplified, ifsuitable provision is made to deliver an abnormally thick web of cottonto the pedals of the evener mechanism 9. This may be accomplished in avariety of ways, but in the system shown this object is realized bymaking the condenser 8 of abnormally large capacity and driving thecondenser screen and its delivery lattice at a lower speed than usual sothat the cotton will be thickened at this point in the stream and anabnormally heavy web will be delivered to the evener pedals. Forexample, the ordinary web of standard width of forty or ing operation.

forty-five inches handled in a system of this character weighs in theneighborhood of twentyfour ounces to the running yard. We have found,however, that if the web delivered to the pedals of the evener 9 isthickened to such an extent that the web weighs from forty to sixtyounces (a weight of between fifty and fifty-five ounces being preferred)the evener then will deliver a far more even and uniform sheet than whenit handles a web of lighter weight. The increased weight of the web mayrequire an increase in diameter of the condenser screen from the usualtwenty-two inch size to, say, twenty-seven to thirty inches. Anysuitable type of condenser may be used. It is preferable, also, to soregulate the feed of cotton to the first evener 4, that the web actedupon by the evener pedals will wei h from forty to sixty ounces to therunning yard, it being understood that in referring to the web, bothhere and throughout the specification, a web of standard width is meantunless the contrary is specifically stated. However, the same ratiobetween width and weight per running yard can be maintained in specialwidths.

This arrangement thus avoids any large accumulation of cotton at anypoint in the system. Instead of breaking or interrupting the stream ofcotton between two adjacent units, as in an arrangement in which anintermediate hopper feeder is used, the present system maintains acontinuous, unbroken stream of cotton flowing from the delivery rolls orlattice of each unit to the infeed of the next, the integrity of thestream being maintained during this entire feed- This arrangement alsoavoids the necessity for folding or doubling the web at an intermediatepoint in the system which feature has been used in one of the priorsingle process systems. While in practice this prior system in which thedoubling feature is used has proved very satisfactory, the presentsystem is simpler. It maintains an approximately uniform flow of cottonbetween the delivery end of each picking unit and the infeed of thenext, the cross-sectional area of cotton when compacted under a givenpressure being substantially uniform throughout each section of thestream between said delivery and infeed points. At the same time thecross-sectional area of one section of the stream between certain ofsaid pickers may be different from that in another section, and thecotton in one part of any section may be fluifed up at some points andmore compacted at others. This is the case, for example, between thecondenser 8 of the second picker unit and the beater iii of the finalunit where the cotton is compacted in passing through the feed rolls 35,and is still further compressed in passing under the evener roll 38,although approximately equal quantities of cotton are moving past eachsuccessive point along the lattice between the condenser 8 and the rolls35, and a like quantity is also travelling at any instant past each ofthe rolls 35 and 38. In this sense the stream of cotton between thecondenser 8 and the beater it may be said to be uniform, asdistinguished from a condition in which the stream of cotton is foldedor doubled at some point in its feeding movement and the crosssectionalarea and the quantity of cotton are correspondingly increased at saiddoubling point.

The feeding of the cotton to the second evener in the form of acondensed web as it issues from the condenser 8 is of advantage infacilitating the control of the cotton and avoids difficulties whichhave been experienced in prior systems where the cotton comes to thesecond condenser in a very fiuffy condition and consequently in a largeand rather unwieldly stream.

When the winding of the lap has been completed the machine automaticallyshuts down or knocks off in a manner Well understood by those skilled inthis art, and the mechanism provided to accomplish this objectpreferably is arranged to shut down all the feeding units throughout thesystem. For this purpose the usual knock-off lever or bar 62, Fig. l, isconnected by link 63 with an arm projecting laterally from the uprightrock-shaft 64, so that the dropping of the bar 62 will rock this shaftabout its axis. This movement operates a clutch lever 65 to throw out aclutch through which the worm wheel driven by the upper cone isconnected with the other units which it drives. Another arm on thisrockshaft is connected by a link 65 to the control lever of a positivedriving unit ti, like that shown and described in the Shaw Patent No.1,735,135, this unit being constantly driven by a belt connection withthe shaft of the beater i. This unit is operatively connected by a link68 with a second rock shaft it carrying a lever for operating the clutchii, Fig. 2, through which the worm wheel 54 drives the cotton feedingunits associated with the condensers 6 and 8. Another link 12 connectsthe rock shaft ill with a third rock shaft '33 which is arranged tooperate the clutch 14 located between the upper cone 24 and the rollsthat feed the cotton into the beater section 5. A similar connectionwith the rock shaft 13 controls the clutch '15 through which the evenermechanism 4 drives the lattice of the hopper feeder 2.

Consequently, when the lapper .knocks off, all of the feeding mechanismsthroughout the system are automatically stopped, and similarly, when thedrop bar 52 is raised to start the lapper again, all of the feedingmechanisms are started up substantially simultaneously.

While we have herein shown and described a preferred organization ofapparatus, it will be evident that the invention may be embodied in aconsiderable variety of other forms without departing from the spiritand scope thereof. Also, that the method or process provided by thisinvention can be practiced with the aid of apparatus differing from theparticular arrangement shown.

Having thus described our invention, what we desire to claim as new is:

1. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists inperforming a plurality of picking operations on a stream of loose cottonand finally working it into the form of a finished lap, feeding thecotton in a continuous and approximately uniform stream from thedelivery of each of said operations to the infeed of the next, at anintermediate point in the process working the cotton into a thickenedweb in' which the fibres are loosely associated with each other, andevening said thickened web.

2. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists inperforming a plurality of picking operations on a stream of loose cottonand finally working it into the form of a finished lap, feeding thecotton in a continuous and approximately uniform stream from thedelivery of each of said operations to the infeed of the next, at anintermediate point in the process working the cotton into a condensedand thickened web weighing at least forty ounces to the running yard ina web of standard width, and

evening said web before delivering the cotton to the next succeedingpicking operation.

3. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists inperforming a plurality of picking operations on a stream of loose cottonand finally working it into the form of a finished lap, feeding thecotton in a continuous and approximately uniform stream from thedelivery of each'cf said operations to the infeed of the next, eveningthe cotton immediately prior to one of the later picking operations, andthickening the stream of cotton to present the cotton at said eveningpoint in a web weighing at least forty ounces to the running yard in aweb of standard width.

4. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists inperforming a plurality of picking operations on a stream of loose cottonand finally working it into the form of a finished lap, feeding thecotton in a continuous and approximately uniform stream from thedelivery of each of said operations to the infeed oi the next, eveningthe cotton at an intermediate point in the process, and slowing up therate of travel of the cotton immediately prior to the said eveningoperation to thicken the stream of cotton presented to the eveninginstrumentalities.

5. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists insubjecting the cotton to a plurality of picking operations and finallyworking it into the form of a lap, feeding the cotton in a continuousstream from each of said operations to the next, evening the cotton atan intermediate point in said process, thickening the stream of cottonby condensing it just before-it reaches said evening point to present anabnormally thick stream of cotton to the action of the eveninginstrumentalities, and maintaining a well defined, continuous andapproximately uniform stream of cotton constantly moving forward at eachof the feeding points between the delivery of one picking operation andthe infeed of the next.

6. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists insubjecting the cotton to a plurality of picking operations and finallyworking it into the form of a finished lap, evening the cotton at anintermediate point in said process, thickening the stream of cotton bycondensing it just before it reaches said evening point to present anabnormally thick stream of cotton to the action of the eveninginstrumentalities, and feeding the cotton continuously from each of saidpicking operations to the next in an approximately uniform stream, theintegrity of which is constantly maintained during the feedingoperation.

'7. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists insubjecting a continuous stream of cotton to a plurality of beatingoperations, condensing the cotton between successive beating operations,evening the cotton prior to the final beating operation, utilizing acondensing operation preceding said evening operation to thicken thestream of cotton and to Work the cotton into an abnormally thick webweighing between forty and sixty ounces to the running yard in a web ofstandard width, and feeding said web to the evening instrumentalities.

8. That improvement in methods of picking cotton which consists insubjecting a continuous stream of cotton to a plurality of beatingoperations, condensing the cotton between successive beating operations,calendering the web of cotton produced in the final condensingoperation, winding said web to form a lap, evening the cotton prior tothe final beating operation, causing the condensing operation precedingsaid final beating operation to slow up the rate of travel of the cottonand to work the cotton into a web weighing at least forty ounces to therunning yard in a web of standard width, feeding said web to the eveninginstrumentalities, and acting on said stream of cotton at pointspreceding the latter condensing operation to reduce' variations in thefiow of cotton toward the point at which the latter condensing operationis performed.

ROBERT S. CURLEY. WILLIAM SHAW.

